< Lesson 1>

A, Japanese Hiragana( ひらがな )and Katakana( かたかな )letters

Japanese writing is consisting of 3 kind of letters which are hiragana , katakana  and kanji. 
Hiragana and katakana letters are showing only sounds without meaning while kanji letters has own meaning itself.  

I will show you the list of hiragana and katakana below.　
(up=roma-ji, middle=hiragana, down=katakana)

*roma-ji letters is the system of latin characters used to write Japanese .
  roma-ji makes it easier for you to pronounce each sound of Japanese.
 

 
* You can hear the above sounds.
* "wo" sound is the same as "o" sound.

Japanese words and sentences  are combination of these letters.
You can use these letters when you make Japanese sentences.
And you can mix kanji letters instead of hiragana letters to write sentences.
If the  word or name is originally from western word such as English, Spanish
please use katakana letters in order to write such words.
 
e.g : speed(supiido)-スピード, taxi(takushii)-タクシー, table(teeburu)-テーブル, milk(miruku)-ミルク,

* words in (  ) are how to read with roma-ji writing. 
* long sound is written using hyphen "ー”

Question, Please change the following words into katakana letters and write the meaning of word in English.
( You can hear these words)

A,  aisukuriimu ==               B, erebeetaa==                C, rajio==           D, kaaten==
E,  maneejaa ==                   F, ookesutora==            G, koohii==           H, taoru==

B,  Most basic sentence <A は B です ( A is B)>

We start to study a very basic Japanese sentences. ( -- は --です。/ですか。 /ではありません。)

Please read the following conversation between A and B.  (You can hear this conversation)

   A, Watashi wa  Tanaka desu. わたしは たなかです。 ( I am Tanaka.)
        Anata  wa  Gumi-san desu ka ?あなたはぐみさんですか。 ( Are you Mr.Gumi?)

   B, Hai, watashi wa Gumi desu. はい、わたしはぐみです。 (  Yes, I am  Gumi. )

   A, Anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka ? あなたは アメリカじんですか。( Are you American?)

   B, IIe, watashi wa Amerika-jin dewaarimasen. いいえ、わたしは アメリカじんではありません。( No, I am not American.)
　   Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu. わたしは にほんじんです。( I am  Japanese. )
　

    *As you see the above sentences,  Japanese language puts "wa（は） " after subject .
  　This "wa "  is called adverbial particle, which indicates that the preceding word ( eg Watashi,
      Anata in the above conversation ) is the subject of the sentence. or the topic of the dialogue and so on.

    * "desu（で す）"is copula  verb which means "is " "am "  This is positive form .
         Be sure to place it at the end of the sentence.

    * "dewa arimasen（ではありません）" is negative form of "desu"

    * "Hai（はい）" is yes , "iie（いいえ）" is no . sometime people say "ie"instead of "iie"

    * "Amerikajin(アメリカじん) " means American.  "jin（じん）"means person, people.
        You can make many nationalities with "jin" like

         Nihon (Japan)+jin （にほんじん）=Japanese 
   　 Furansu (France)+jin （フ ランスじん）= French
　    Doitsu (Germany)+jin（ドイツじん）= German

    * Question sentence put "ka（か）" at the end of the sentence.
 
<Exercise 1> Please  change  to Japanese sentences.

1  A,   Are you students ?  (you = anata-tachi, student= gakusei)
     B,   Yes, we are students.    ( we = watashi-tachi)

2  A,   Are you a  single ? ( single= dokushin)
  B,   Yes, I am a single.

3  A,   Are you  Chinese ? ( Chinese = Chuugoku-jin)
     B,   No, I am not Chinese. I am Japanese.

4,  A,  Is he Mr. Suzuki ?  (  he=kare )
     B,  No, he is not Mr. Suzuki. He is Mr. Tanaka.

C, Genitive case indicator particle "の" < A no B  ( B of A ) >

In the Japanese language，Particles have very important rules in the sentence.
Each particle indicates the rule of the preceding word ( subject,object etc)
in the sentence.  As seen in our previous sentences, "wa " has the very important rule as
indicator of the subject or topic in the sentence.
Now，you will study another important particle "no（の）"

Please read examples (You can hear these phrases)

1 watashi no musuko (わ たしのむすこ)  <my son>
   anata no musuko (あなたのむすこ） <your son>
   watashi no kazoku (わたしのかぞく） <my family> *kazoku=family
   anata no kazoku (あなたのかぞく） <your family>

2 gumi-san no hon （ぐみさんのほん） < Mr Gumi's book> *hon-book
　chichi no uchi（ち ちのうち）< father's house> *chichi=father  *uchi=house

3 nihongo no jisho （にほんごのじしょ） < Japanese dictionary> *jisho=dictionary
   eigo no benkyou（え いごのべんきょう） < study of English> *eigo=English *benkyou=study

  As you see in the above phrases，"no" has the important function of connecting two words
  and showing the relationship between words.
  One of the two words modify the another word.  In such a case, the particle "no"
  is put after the modifying word, followed by modified word.
  Generally speaking, when you say "A of B "in English , you can say "B no A"in Japanese.

  <Exercise 2>  Please connect 2 words correctly like example.

    example
    My father ( chichi, watashi) = watashi no chichi

    1,  Your school ( anata, gakkou) =
    2,  My teacher ( sensei, watashi)=
    3,  English book ( hon, eigo )=
    4,  Our car( kuruma, watashitachi)=
    5,  Study of Japanese (nihongo, benkyou)=
    6,  Your name ( namae, anata)=
    7,  Today's news ( nyuusu, kyoo)=
 
 So,"no" has the important function of  connecting words.  sometime,you will use more than
 one "no" in one phrase to connect few words . For example,

*the school of my son =watashi no musuko no gakkou （わたしのむすこのがっこう）*がっこう=学校

   If you follow the formula " A of B "in English = "B no A "in Japanese,
  A=school, B=my son  so, " watashi no musuko(B) no gakkou(A)"

*your Japanese dictionary =anata no nihongo no jisho （あなたのにほんごのじしょ）
*the name of your country =anata no kuni no namae （あなたのくにのなまえ）*な まえ=name

<Exercise 3>  Please render the follwing phrases in Japanese.

    1,  the car of my friend  ( friend = tomodachi)
    2,  the teacher of your school
    3,  the book of Japanese history ( history= rekishi)
    4,  my friend's company  ( company= kaisha)
    5,  the house of  our family
    6,  the language of his country (language=kotoba)

D, Total exercises

   Now, let's try to make sentences with the particle"wa" and "no"  and  verb "desu" and so on.

   When you make Japanese sentence, please make sure the predicate part comes at the end of
   sentence. And  note that Japanese nouns and pronouns have no number and gender.
   They have no inflectional signs of case,either.
   Instead, they are followed by particles like "wa"."no"which indicate the rule of the word in sentence.
 

  Example-1
  My name is Nakata.=Watashi no namae wa Nakata desu （わ たしのなまえは なかたです。）

   <how to make this sentence>

  1) "My name" is " watashi no namae". This is the subject of the sentence.
  2)The subject is followed by the particle "wa "( watashi no namae wa ).
  3)The predicate part of this sentence  is "is Nakata." which is mentioned about the subject.
     In Japanese sentence structure, the verb "desu"(is)  needs to be placed at the end of sentence.
     So, the predicate part of this sentence is "nakata desu"
  4)Finally, you can connect the subject part with the predicate part as "watashi no namae wa nakata desu."
     If the sentence is negative, "desu" can be replaced by "dewaarimasen."

  Example-2  
  Is your country Japan ? =Anata no kuni wa nihon desu ka ( あ なたのくには にほんですか。)

   <how to make this sentence>
  
  1) "your country " in Japanese is "anata no kuni ".
  2)This is the subject of this sentence which is followed by the particle "wa". ( anata no kuni wa ).
  3)This sentence is a question form in which ends with " desu ka ".
     "nihon "(Japan) is the predicate word which precedes "desu ka" ( nihon desu ka)
  4)You can connect the subject part "anata no kuni wa" with the predicate part "nihon desu ka" and
     thus become "anata no kuni wa + nihon desu ka"
 
 
<Exercise 4>  Please translate the following sentence into Japanese.

     1,  My father is Japanese. But, my mother is not Japanese. My mother is American.

         *mother = haha=はは  
         * but = demo=でも (this word should be put at the top of the second sentence.)

     2,  Is Hong-Kong the capital of China ?  No, Hong-Kong is not the capital of China.

          *capital  = shuto=しゅと 
          *Hong-Kong= honkon=ホンコン

     3,  Is Sumou the Japanese sport ?  Yes, Sumou is the Japanese sport.

          * sport = supootsu=スポーツ

     4,  My hobbies are  cars and music.  My car is a German car.

          *hobby/hobbies = shumi=しゅみ 
          *music =おんがく 
          *cars and music = kuruma to ongaku=くるまとおんがく 

     5,  The president of my company is my father. I am not the president.

          *president= shachou=しゃちょう
          *company = kaisha=かいしゃ 
 
=============================================================================
 * Lesson Supplement :Country name and nationality and language name in Japanese language

1, When you say a country's name in Japanese, you are recommended to pronounce the names 
    in a Japanese way , Some country names are different from English names 

2, When you say nationality of the people, you can just add "jin " after country name.

3, When you say language name, you can just add " go" after country name generally

  I can show you some examples

----------------------------------------------------------------------------end of lesson-1---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------